Hard Hearts too tough for Dons

Hearts 1 Aberdeen 0

TYNECASTLE stands right next to one of Edinburgh’s secondary schools and this
felt like a case of playground bullying. Hearts did not take Aberdeen’s
lunch money from them, but did deprive them of a place in the last 16 of the
Scottish Cup with a dominant, belligerent display on their own patch.

They have not made it past the first hurdle in the tournament, or scored in
it, since defeating Hibs 5-1 in the 2012 final and were clearly not in the
mood to tolerate another failure here. If Derek McInnes, Aberdeen’s manager,
wants some silverware to show from this season, he’ll have to look at
challenging Celtic for the league title.

The game justified its ‘tie of the round’ billing, a Saturday evening kickoff
under the floodlights with the television cameras trained on it. You
couldn’t take your eyes off the war of attrition which unfolded. Aberdeen
annexed one